Peacebuilding in the Balkans © Cornell University Press This document may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. © Cornell University Press This document may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. Peacebuilding in the Balkans The View from the Ground Floor © Cornell University Press This documentPAULA may M. not PICKERINGbe reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. Cornell University Press ithaca and london Copyright © 2007 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2007 by© Cornell Cornell University University Press Press This documentPrinted in the United may States not of be America reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickering, Paula M. (Paula May), 1966– Peacebuilding in the Balkans : the view from the ground floor / Paula M. Pickering. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-4576-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Peace-building—Bosnia and Hercegovina. 2. Return migration—Bosnia and Hercegovina. 3. Bosnians—Ethnic identity. 4. Yugoslav War, 1991–1995— Refugees—Bosnia and Hercegovina. 5. Bosnia and Hercegovina—Politics and government—1992– 6. Bosnia and Hercegovina—Ethnic relations. I. Title. DR1750.P43 2007 949.703—dc22 2007028873 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10987654321 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: The View from Below 1 1 Below the Surface 15 2 Self-Understandings versus Power 51 3 The Dilemma of Migration 85 © Cornell University Press 4 Sites for Building Bridges 111 This document may not be reproduced or distributed in any form 5 The Plague of Politics 139 without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. 6 Implications for Eurasia 165 Appendixes A. Methods 189 B. Pseudonyms and Demographics for Bosnians 200 C. Structure for Ethnographies 208 D. Interview Protocol 210 E. Predicting the Return of Minorities to Prewar Homes 212 F. Explaining Religious Intolerance 214 G. Predicting Votes for Moderate Parties in Bosnia in 2001 215 References 217 Index 235 © Cornell University Press This document may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. Acknowledgments I fell in love with Eastern Europe on the first day I set foot there in 1988. The people there drew me into the region. And it is the people of the for- mer Yugoslavia to whom I owe the most. Without the willingness of those who have suffered so much to share their personal thoughts, their social lives, and their efforts to rebuild normal lives with me, I could not have written this book. I hope that my research does justice to them and their stories and helps contribute to an understanding that might make things better for them and ©their Cornell children. University Press I owe special thanks also to accomplished scholars who shared their Thisvast document wisdom about may and not passion be reproduced for research with or distributedme. Zvi Gitelman in anyhas form withoutpainstakingly permission mentored in and writing challenged from me Cornellto think, write, University and conduct Press. research in new and better ways about ethnicity, politics, and Eastern Eu- rope. Kent Jennings has counseled me to reach beyond comparative pol- itics and be more rigorous about the theory and methods I use. Martha Feldman has taught me to use qualitative methods to make better sense of everyday politics. John Fine has inspired and guided me by sharing on countless occasions his encyclopedic knowledge of the Balkans and his passion for its peoples. I owe immense thanks to Katherine Cramer Walsh, Claudio Holzner, and Khristina Haddad for being my most critical and supportive readers and for consistently forcing me to think in innovative ways. Sherrill Stroschein and Kevin Deegan Krause have encouraged me to consider new literature and the comparative implications of my work. I also thank Sladjana Dankovic´, Tone Bringa, Bob Donia, Bob Kaiser, Bill Zimmerman, Val Bunce, Amaney Jamal, Donna Parmalee, Lee Schwartz, Gary Crocker, Dina Smeltz, Janet Crayne, Patrick Patterson, Michael Ross, Chris Achen, Susan Woodward, Rob Franseze, Chip Gagnon, Pat Lynch, John Zerolis, Rod Mackler, Kim Gross, Kari Johnstone, Chris Nemachek, and Paul Manna for advice on key aspects of this research. This book has also ben- efited from comments by anonymous reviewers and from astute editor- ial assistance from Martin Schneider and Anita Holmes. I particularly viii Acknowledgments appreciate Roger Haydon for his support of the book’s ideas and for im- proving my writing about them. My fieldwork owes a huge debt to those who took the time to help me learn and connect with people in the former Yugoslavia. For this, I am particularly indebted to Elissa Helms; scholars at the Institut za istoriju Sarajevo; Sonja Valtassari; Kathrine Biering; Jadranka, Nuna, Selma, and everyone at Zˇene Zˇenama; Majda, Azrija, and members of the Democratic Circle; Michael Sporluk; Centar za nenasilno resˇavanje konflikata–Nisˇ, Bill and Renata Steubner; Josie Lecraw; Luke Zahner; Karen Williams; and Mark Baskin. I am grateful for the generosity of staffers of many lo- cal and international organizations across Bosnia, including those with the UNHCR, the OSCE Mission, the Office of the High Representative (OHR); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the Interna- tional Rescue Committee, Edinburgh Direct Aid, CARE, Orthodox Relief, Hilswerk; Open Broadcast Network’s (OBN) “povratak” team, the Prop- erty Commission; Pax Christi; Merhamet, Banja Luka; Through Heart to Peace; the Center for Democracy–Konjic; International Forum Bosnia; and Zˇene u crnom, Belgrade. Several organizations© Cornell and individuals University assisted Press me with data, resources, and artwork for this book. I appreciate the IOM’s permission to use the This documentdata it collected may on refugeesnot be returning reproduced to Bosnia-Herzegovina. or distributed Dina in Smeltzany form withoutprovided permission in-depth analysis in writing of data from collected Cornell by the University U.S. Department Press. of State’s Office of Research. Randy Hodson shared data contained in the Consortium of Institutes for Social Science in Yugoslavia, Survey on Na- tional Tolerance, 1989. Predrag Pajic guided me to resources at the Library of Congress. And Leo Dillon and Will Armstrong produced this book’s map and illustrations, respectively. I am deeply indebted for the financial support of my research provided by the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar Fellow- ship, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellow- ship, the Social Science Research Council’s International Field Dissertation Research Fellowship; the University of Michigan’s Department of Politi- cal Science, the Wallenberg Endowment Grant, Foreign Languages and Area Studies Fellowships; Margaret Dow Towsley Scholarship at the Uni- versity of Michigan, University of Michigan’s International Institute and the Working Group on War and Peace in Southeastern Europe, the South East European Studies Association, and The College of William and Mary’s Reves Center for International Studies and Arts and Sciences. My family, Margaret, Richard, Andy, and Kristin Pickering, has pro- vided unwavering support. I dedicate this book to my parents, who en- couraged me to pursue my dreams, and to the memory of Blanche Coles, who taught me early that love penetrates cultural boundaries. Peacebuilding in the Balkans © Cornell University Press This document may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. © Cornell University Press This document may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission in writing from Cornell University Press. Introduction The View from Below Nela1 [a middle-aged teacher of Serb background from Sara- jevo]: When I decided to return [in 1998 to Sarajevo from Serbia], and when I realized that I’m Bosnian—from here [Sara- jevo]—my colleagues in Sarajevo helped me [reclaim my job]. But telling the refugees [in Serbia] that we were leaving created problems. They couldn’t comprehend that I just wanted to live a normal life. The international community© Cornell has University spent billions Press of dollars encouraging ordinary people, particularly those like Nela, now tendentiously consid- Thisered document a member mayof a “minority,” not be reproduced to return to their or homes distributed of origin inso anythat form withoutthey can integratepermission into postwar in writing Bosnia from and helpCornell create Universitya democratic andPress. multiethnic state. Bosnia is just one of a group of states that includes Rwanda,